


Serendipity

by rye_adler



Category: Kanjani8 (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25380901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rye_adler/pseuds/rye_adler
Summary: Photographer Maru × Musician Subaru in LondonEnglish ver.
Relationships: Maruyama Ryuhei/Shibutani Subaru





	Serendipity

\- 1 -   
“Serendipity” is hard to translate.  
  
  
\- 2 -  
Ryuhei Maruyama unexpectedly wanted to take a walk by the Thames today.   
  
He wasn't about to go out tonight.   
He is a freelance photographer in his third year in London. He's going to catch a commercial appointment tomorrow morning.   
  
Earlier, Tower Entertainment's staff had contacted him to take a group of promotional photos of a newly signed Japanese songwriter.  
  
The one who called was a girl named Christie. She sounded excited and nervous, and her voice was like a splash of water under a fountain. She said she had just started working as an agent and just got the first singer she managed. An upcoming commercial film that had invested heavily in production, and the director, after listening to demo, appointed the singer to write the theme song for the new film.   
  
It was really serendipity, she said.   
  
Ryuhei Maruyama answered to her softly, thinking that it was probably an English girl in a braided skirt.   
  
Theoretically, he won't go out the night before work. He's never late for work, and this time it sounds like an important opportunity for that singer. Then, of course, he'll have to get up early to squeeze the old London subway tomorrow. In an early rush hour, he probably can't squeeze in at the first attempt. If, according to his habits, to let others go first, he calculated, at least he has to wait for three trains.  
  
But somehow, he just wanted to go out at the moment.   
  
The voice of the girl named Christie hit his ears.   
The word Serendipity, is difficult to translate. Can be said as meeting accidentally, a fortuitous surprise, or an unexpectation in destiny.   
  
Photography also needs some “serendipity”. He convinced himself when he locked the door with his camera on his back.  
  
  
\- 3 -  
The wind of each city is wrapped in the city's unique breath and memory.   
  
Don't know if it counts autumn or winter. A few dry maple leaves are rolling unhurriedly in the dim light of the street lamp. Just after the rain, there are several puddles on the black tarmac road, reflecting the passers-by in a hurry. In Victorian times, there would have been a rickshaw man in a feathered hat who would have spat his cigarette ring, and his horse would have trod past the water and made a blurry reflection of the moon.  
  
Maruyama wrapped the loose cashmere scarf around again, put down his camera and closed his eyes. He stood against the stone fence by the river.   
  
Having been seen the world in a square frame for a long time, even the most chaotic background sound will be very quiet. This is the scene of everyone’s own encounter.  
  
The wind was cold and a little moist. The old man with gray beard, selling baked peanuts on the Tower Bridge, was shouting, and the sweet smell of caramel floated. The girl on the bench next to him had just taken it, chewing peanuts and listening to a soothing serenade, and the notes leaked out from the big headphones. A few children joked past and they sounded like grabbing a hot waffle. The seagulls, too, were tired, flapping their wings and staggered on the fences of the stone, and their feathers rubbed against the air.  
  
The Big Ben struck a stuffy sound.   
It's exactly nine o'clock.   
  
Maruyama casually raised the camera to take a blind shot, then opened his eyes to see. It was a few passers-by around a guy playing the guitar.   
Maruyama walked towards the crowd not far away.  
  
  
The guitarist's fisherman's hat drooped over his eyelashes. The ill-fitting cowboy coat, caging his thin body, seemed a little too broad, as if it had been washed out, and the pockets of his left breast were a little pale, and the cuffs of his right hand rolled casually over his wrist. Maruyama recalled that the coat was very similar to the style of the vintage shop in Camden Market that he went last time.   
  
The man had only a guitar on his back, and the shadow and the microphone frame were drawn together into two thin lines. He sang some English songs with some stuttering accents. He did not deliberately look at anyone, as if he were not singing to anyone. The passers-by came and went, and there he sang his own song. Sometimes in the crooking eyes, his eyelashes brush a soft shadow. And as he raised his eyes to look ahead, his eyes seemed to twinkle with stars.  
  
He did not cry out, but Maruyama felt that every vibration of the strings at his fingertips was faintly flowing with strength, hitting the heartbeat of Maruyama. What he looked forward to is not a confusing future, but a firm self far away.  
  
Maruyama's hands seemed to be out of his own. He couldn’t stop but crazily press the shutter of the camera.   
Moonlight.   
Streetlights.   
After the rain.   
Guitar strings.   
Bony fingers.  
Soulful eyes.  
  
  
When he finally came to his senses, the shutter failed to press, and then he noticed that on the screen of the camera it said “SD card lack of storage”.   
  
Not knowing how long has been passed, the people around have already dispersed, the singer just opened the microphone frame. He seemed a little tired and sat down against the steps of the stone hurdle, slouching his guitar on his body. He made a few random noises, which were completely different from those before, and hummed softly in a soft little tune.  
“I was a streetcar on the sea.  
Tried to escape from the islands of humans  
and struggled to live.”  
  
Maruyama raised his camera and heard the sound of the guitar come to an abrupt halt. He was spotted by the guitarist’s gaze.  
  
The most embarrassing moment for a photographer is when the person you're photographing happens to be looking at you. The best thing to do at this time is to pretend to be calm.   
"Um... yeah... I'm sorry I took some pictures of you. Would you like to see them? If you mind I'll delete it. "   
  
The man seemed to be stunned for a moment. His eyes drifted. He nodded his head a little, and then shook his head again.   
  
"Hey, Ryuhei Maruyama, I’m a freelance photographer." Maruyama's throat was a bit dry, so he forced himself to take a deep breath. He walked quickly to the stone steps and held out his right hand, as if flush from his cheek to his neck was due to the cold wind blowing him from cheek to neck.  
  
The man leaned back instinctively when seeing Maruyama come suddenly with his head up. After a moment's hesitation, he stood up with his guitar in one hand against the railing, and a little cramped, patting the dust on his clothes. "Su. Shibuya. Ah, no, wait......"   
  
Maruyama smiled, "Are you Japanese? Me too. “

"Ah! Well. " The man, who calls himself Shibuya, sipped his lips and lowered his eyes to avoid Maruyama's gaze, completely missing the swagger he had just played.   
  
"Your song was beautiful. "   
"Thank you. Thank you. You're also very... " "What?"   
"Ah! No. Nothing... "  
  
  
  
At about 11:00, Maruyama's blog was updated. It was a picture of the sky, with two lines of clouds flying across it, the transpiring arcs intersecting in the distance, and finally sliding out of sight.  
  
「  
"Sorry about the late update. It's the sky today and I unexpectedly met a lovely song in the evening.   
  
‘I was a streetcar on the sea.  
Tried to escape from the islands of humans  
and struggled to live.’  
  
Maybe I didn’t translate it well.   
I don't know what it means. It's probably an unfinished song. But no matter how strong a person is, he might also have some confusion about their own existence.   
Really do not know what I’m saying, I’m probably just too sleepy.   
Good night.   
Wish everyone a brand new day tomorrow. "  
」  
  
  
Few people read blogs this late at night. Maruyama is about to close the computer, but suddenly the system prompts. An account called S gave him a like.   
  
I don't think I've seen this ID before.   
He clicked curiously into S's home page.   
There are only a few posts there some inexplicable words, with some rhyme, as if they were the lyrics. Others are a few obscure letters, "D G C Bm" or something like that.   
Is that a guitar chord? Maruyama suddenly realized.   
  
S latest post today has only one sentence. "what kind of fool would say his last name wrong?"   
Maruyama did not count a few exclamation marks behind, can not help a laugh out of the sound.   
  
Tonight, I met two interesting people called S, Maruyama thought and followed S’s account.   
  
Maruyama skimmed through that website again before going to bed.   
S’s previous post has been deleted, and there’s a new post.   
This one is simpler. Just a post of a full stop sign” . “.   
There was a comment asking him what the full stop meant. He replied, "I just finished writing a previously unfinished song. “  
  
  
  
\- 4 -  
"Hi, Mr. Maruyama. I just contacted you. I’m Christie. Hope we can have a pleasant cooperation today."  
"Hello, Christie, just call me Maru please." Maruyama smiled and held out his hand. Sure enough, the little girl with braided hair, slanting on the shoulders, dark red pattern of wool skirt making her look nifty and capable.   
  
"The singer you're shooting later is called Subaru Shibutani, as you probably already know, and he's Japanese, too. Then this group of films will serve as the movie theme song promotion. I believe that you will perfectly display his unique temperament.” Christie hurriedly spoke at the same time as she led Maruyama to the dressing room.   
"Mr. Subaru, the cameraman has arrived."   
  
At the innermost corner of the dressing room, a man in a tight leather jacket turned coldly. Then Maruyama and he are both frozen in that place.   
"You?!"   
"Shi... Shibuya? "   
  
Christie burst out laughing. "Mr. Maruyama, you are so good at joking. I thought I had learned some Japanese before, and I called Mr. Shibutani ‘shibuya’, the first time I met him. How can you, as a Japanese, mispronounce it?"  
"I......" Maruyama didn't even know where to start explaining.   
"Subaru. Subaru Shibutani. “ The person interrupted Maruyama with a cold face, putting away the surprise in the eyes, and just slightly nodded to him.   
"Maru... Ryuhei Maruyama. " Maruyama repeated his name weakly.   
  
  
"Well, if you don t mind, Subaru is always like that; he’s very kind to us, even though he pretends to be cool and indifferent. Um. I don't know how to describe him, he feels like...” Christie came to talk to Maruyama when he is adjusting the tripod and the lights.  
  
"He's like ... a cat? "  
"Yes, yes." Christie seemed pleased with the description.  
"By the way, does he usually dress like that?" Maruyama asked, "so tight … Leather clothes, boots, whatever. "   
"No, he always wears baggy clothes from some second-hand shop he doesn't know about, and he likes that. It's just that our movie this time is an action spy movie. Hey hey, so his usual style doesn't meet the requirements of the company. "   
"Okay I get it."  
  
  
  
"Thank you all for your hard work, Mr. Maruyama, let's have a rest and move on to the next suit later." During the shoot, Christie came over and gave everyone a bottle of water.   
  
"Thank you." Maruyama was watching a movie on the screen when he saw a bottle of mineral water coming over. He looked up and saw Christie, take two mint candies out of his pocket and give them to her.   
  
Christie smiled and stuffed it into his mouth and chewed. "what do you think?”  
  
”As a matter of fact, Mr. Subaru has been a little nervous in front of the camera, but his expressiveness is surprisingly good. " Maruyama rolled over the mouse quickly. On the screen, the riveted leather clothes, pulled to the sunglasses below the bridge of the nose, even the eye hooks are vaguely indifferent... Tt first glance these pictures are all very in line with today's “high street” aesthetic.  
"But I just feel... that it’s a bit unlike HIM. For the next scene, can you ask him to come up with a guitar? "   
  
"Ah! That's a good idea! Ah, by the way, there is another piece of candy. I'll give it to Mr Subaru to cheer him up. He didn't seem to sleep well last night. " Christie clapped his hands as if she were enlightened, and went to arrange them like a wind.   
  
"Hey, wait a minute -" Maruyama didn't know why he was a little nervous and expected, and his heart beated a few times irregularly.   
  
  
  
When Subaru came with the guitar, he obviously relaxed a lot, but he was a little loss in front of the strong lights and the dark lens of Maruyama. He leaned on the high stool and looked up at Maruyama blankly.  
  
"You can just play as much as you want. just pretend I don't exist. I'll find an angle to take a picture." Maruyama bent his eyes and smiled and wanted him to relax as much as possible and press his tone very softly.   
  
Subaru nodded unknowingly, first plucked a few strings in a somewhat stiff posture, and began to sing slowly.   
  
Maruyama felt that this tune was inexplicably familiar, but couldn't remember where he had heard it at the moment. The rhythm of finger strings is getting faster and faster, soft humming gradually has melodies and lyrics, and finally became a cry. The view frame of Maruyama moves faster and faster with the rhythm of the guitar, and the click of the shutter somehow became resonating with the rhythm of the chords.   
Trembling fingertips, lingering lips, rippling eyes —— the tension of the song slammed in through the camera.   
Maruyama felt that he had been poured down a bottle of Romanicanti, struggling on the edge of half-drunkenness, and the blood was about to burst out of the blood vessels of his heart, pouring into his throat and temporals.   
  
  
"Okay...." When Maruyama pressed the shutter for the last time to release the camera, he took a long breath as if he had forcibly pulled his finger that was glued to the camera. He was afraid that if he didn't stop, he would be sucked into Subaru’s eyes like the night sky.   
  
"that's great. everyone has worked hard. let's call it a day!" Christie finished looking around, and then ran to Maruyama. "Thank you so much, Mr. Maruyama! In particular, your proposal to let Mr. Subaru bring his guitar on the stage, the effect is really great! Why don't you join us to celebrate later? We made an appointment with the bar where Mr. Subaru used to sing. "   
Christie paused and then blinked. "he's going, too."   
  
Maruyama was a little tired and wanted to refuse, but he nodded subconsciously before waiting for the brain to react to the last sentence.  
  
  
  
\- 5 -  
The bar "Michi", is hidden in a quiet alley in Soho District. The boss Brother Michi is a Japanese who grew up in England. According to Christie, Brother Michi helped Subaru when he first came to London and asked him to sing in his own bar for a long time. Subaru stop coming here very often after he signed up with the current company, but he came back for temporary help when Brother Michi couldn't find a band during the holidays.   
  
Maruyama ordered a stout beer and Christie asked for a soda. "he doesn't drink to preserve his voice." After she said a word, her cell phone rang and hurried out.   
  
The lights in the shop are soft and inexplicably reassuring. The sound of the collision of wine glasses jingled in their ears. on a small table not far away, an unknown blond singer was poking at the electric guitar, humming a jazz tune without a sentence.   
  
Maruyama and Subaru were silent in the corner of the bar, each holding a glass. Maruyama inadvertently glanced to his side and found that he was staring at him with a straw in his mouth, and his eyes on Maruyama seemed to be choked by himself and coughed unstoppably. "ahem. Ahem. " Maruyama patted him on the back, and the cough gradually died down.  
  
"So... Mr... Shibuya? " Maruyama broke the silence first.   
Subaru’s eyes were still a little red, and the two looked at each other for a few seconds, and then laughed together. Subaru laughed and coughed worse,   
"Don’t... don’t mention that... “  
  
“Hahaha,” Maruyama wiped his laughing tears and waved his hand. "well, do you want to see the photos I took today?"   
". Mm-hmm. " Subaru hesitated for a moment and answered almost inaudibly.  
  
At the moment of turning on the camera, Maruyama suddenly realised something that was probably not very important. As a frifessional habit, he always puts the SD card he used for work back in his bag immediately after work and replace it with another one. So now the card inside is ——  
  
There is a bony hand on the screen on the wooden case of the guitar, and there is a rusty metal button on the faded denim that rolls lazily to the wrist. The person who played and sang did not show the upper part of his face, but could only see the raised lips and the protruding chin.   
  
It's the one that he secretly took yesterday.  
  
Maruyama wondered how lucky he was to bump into the photographer's ten most embarrassing moments. He picked up the few drops of wine left in the cup and poured it down, the epiglottic cartilage squeezed his throat, and only his own hard swallowing was left in the eardrum. Then he heard the sound of clothes rustling, and he turned his head and saw Subaru putting his face on the arm and leaned towards him.   
  
"Do you still wanna see the rest?”  
  
Subaru nodded.   
  
Maruyama breathed a sigh of relief and turned the knob to turn the picture forward. Fortunately, when they were looking at the photos, Subaru didn't speak tacitly. Then there are some pictures he took on the banks of the Thames before he met Subaru. The seagulls swooped down to grab the fish and chips in the hands of the tourists. A girl in a fluffy skirt was holding a skirt in one hand and a lace cap that was about to be blown away by the wind in the other. A girl in a leather dress crouched beside the motorcycle and cried, and the smoky makeup was dizzy at the edge of her eyes because of the tears. There are also some empty scenery. There are no couples going to the London Eye to enjoy the freezing wind in the middle of the night. The huge Ferris wheel stands alone in the dark night, flashing a faint red light.   
  
  
Subaru was still pillowed on his arm, and his supple hair was close to Maruyama's face.   
"what you took..." He suddenly opened his mouth. Maruyama was so surprised that he almost dropped his camera. "I like the story that you captured very much." Subaru said it very lightly.  
  
".......” Maruyama was stunned, and it took a long time to react, "Ah …Aah! Thank you! " Maruyama was surprised when someone said this to him for the first time. As a professional photographer, He can't help but receive a lot of sincere or false praise. some say that he takes a really good picture, and some say that he is very professional. It was the first time that someone he met actually understood the story he wanted to capture at the first glance of the picture.   
  
"Well. I like your music, too. " Maruyama thought hard about what to compliment back, but he was suddenly poor in words. Being first robbed of his lines, now he doesn't know how to express the charm of Subaru’s songs. "The story you sing” is a bit perfunctory.   
  
Subaru blinked and said nothing.   
  
"I mean it! I mean..." Maruyama is a bit annoyed about himself being dumbed in words.   
"I know." Subaru interrupted him with a smile and was about to say something when Christie hurried in and called him aside.  
  
  
A moment later, Maruyama vaguely heard a few quarrels, as well as the sound of a glass breaking. After a while, Christie came back alone. She picked up the bag that Subaru left on his seat, and bowed to Maruyama with anxiety and apology all over her face.   
"I’m very sorry, Mr. Maruyama, just now the filmmaker suddenly contacted me and said... Ah, that is, they said they wanted to find another singer to make a theme song for them, and they would pay for our costs, but they just thought..." Christie seemed to find it difficult to put into words, so Maruyama didn't answer, just waiting for her quietly. "They think they should find a singer who fits more into the European image to promote the movie." Christie struggled to come up with a slightly more respectable phrase, "but Mr. Maruyama, our company will pay for your photography as usual, and we can also use this set of photos to promote Mr. Maruyama's new single in the future, anyway. Ah. "   
  
"it's all right. What a pity. " Maruyama glanced behind Christie. "well, I'm not in a hurry. Go back and deal with Mr. Shibuya first."   
  
The door of the bar was suddenly kicked open and Subaru stepped in quickly. He slapped a 50-pound note on Christie and glanced at Maruyama with an ambiguous emotion. "Say sorry to Brother Michi for me," he said, and turned away again in the cold wind. After bowing to Maruyama again and again, Christie turned back to chase him with small steps.  
  
  
-5-  
  
For more than two months after that, Maruyama never received any news about Subaru again.   
  
Christie does things very neatly. Tower Entertainment's money arrived after only two or three days. Maruyama sent an e-mail to ask Christie about the situation, she only said that they are dealing with it, so Maruyama did not continue to ask.   
  
Maruyama sometimes goes to the bar Michi after work and doesn't know what he's expecting, but he hasn't seen Subaru since.   
  
The blog called S has not been updated, and the latest status stays at the full stop of that night.   
  
  
The end of the year came with a blink of the eyes. The night of December 31 is no different from the past, perhaps just a few more fireworks by the river. It's just that in the day when people gave it a special name, lonely people seem to be more and more lonely. There is never lack of homeless people in cities like London. Of course, there are many homeless people who have no shelter, but the majority are the ones who always can’t mentally make London as where they belong. Maruyama counts himself as the latter.  
  
He wandered on the street, but directing himself towards the usual road leading to Bar Michi. He used half of the way to comvince himself that there was no point in going to Michi again, and used the other half to promise that this is going to be the last time.   
Go for the last time, the last time at the end of the year, the last time in my life.   
Maruyama has always liked this sense of ritual, but this time he is a little afraid of this moment.   
  
He stood at the door and took a deep breath. It was obviously very lively inside. There seems to be a band performing in the bar, and the new year’s party had already begun.   
His hand pressed against the cold glass door, the frost melted and the water dripped down against his fingers.   
  
The New year is five minutes away.   
The New year is a new beginning.   
Happy New year, Maruyama.   
Don't expect anything, stupid Maruyama. He said to himself.  
He pushed the door and went in.  
  
  
  
At the end of the party, Subaru adjusted the microphone stand and nodded to the keyboard bass and the percussionist behind him. The band then withdrew, leaving Subaru alone on the stage. The light pulled out a lonely shadow.   
Michi's regular customers know that this is the Subaru to solo, so they put away their laughter and quietly picked up their glasses and waited for him.   
He pulled the microphone and cleared his throat.   
"Thank you all for coming today. Thank you for your care, Brother Michi. The New year is less than five minutes away. I want to sing a song that I wrote more than two months ago. To someone I met by accident. I wish you all a happy New year. if you are here, you will not be alone. "   
The sound of the guitar dripped slowly.  
  
“I was a streetcar on the sea.  
Tried to escape from the islands of humans  
and struggled to live.  
The waves swallowed my heartbeat.  
I was running, running in circles,  
without knowing where I started,  
nor where to go.  
  
Up upon me was the endless night,  
and the sea stretched on my feet,  
until the horizon that my eyes couldn’t reach.  
  
Until you found me.  
And I know you are my serendipity.”  
  
The tempo of the interlude became faster, and he had forgotten that he was still in a bar in London. he closed his eyes to the beat, raised the tune in half, and sang it aloud in Japanese.  
  
“.......  
Until you found me.  
Until you found me.   
And I know   
you are my   
serendipity.”  
  
  
He silenced the string with his hand. The strings were still vibrating, shaking his hands a little itchy. He heard low sobs around him. He wanted to look up and say something, but he found that he was choked up and could not make a sound, and his eyes seemed to be covered with water mist.   
He wiped his face and found himself wet from the corners of his eyes to his ears.   
  
With a blurred vision, he seemed to see the man standing in front of him who he thought was impossible.   
He thought he was dreaming.   
The impossible man in his dream walked onto the stage, held his face and kissed him deeply. He felt vaguely that the man's lips were wet, but surprisingly sweet.  
  
  
-6-  
Tower Entertainment's Japanese singer-songwriter SUBARU's latest single "Serendipity" topped the UK chart on its first day of release.   
The last two lines of the chorus have long been at the top of the popular search list on Twitter.   
  
It is rumoured that the Japanese Sony Music Company wanted to talk to the singer about the Japanese version of the agency, but was rebuffed by the singer.   
"I'm sorry, I've already given the Japanese version to someone." The singer SUBARU said in the interview.   
  
  
  
Maruyama's blog has been updated as usual. Today's photo shows one hand holding another one’s hand it in mid-air. The spring sun shining on his hand through the gap between the trees, with the small gemstones on the ring finger shining.   
There are only two sentences with the picture.  
"Until you found me. And I know you are my serendipity. "  
  
Apparently, the comments below showed how excited and surprised his fans are to this post.   
“OMG my favourite photographer is posting my favourite singer’s lyrics!!!”  
”Ahh I really love SUBARU!!! Mr Maruyama, are you also a fan of him??”  
  
"Yes, I'm a big fan of him." Maruyama replied to one comment and closed his laptop with a smile.   
The person lying beside him, half-dreaming and half-awake, snorted with a light nasal sound and turned over wrapped in a quilt.   
Maruyama bent down and kissed the man on the forehead with the most pious tenderness.  


-7-   
Until you found me.   
And I know you are my serendipity.


End file.
